Updated: February 1, 2021, 4:16 pm
Greenpeace dropped boulders into the Dogger Bank reserve to stop damaging fishing last year (Suzanne Plunkett/Greenpeace/PA)
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Damaging fishing practices could be banned in wildlife-rich Dogger Bank and three other protected areas of sea under plans being put out for consultation.
Under new byelaws, harmful bottom trawling would be prohibited in four of England’s offshore marine protected areas, and the use of static fishing gear such as pots or nets would be prevented in sensitive parts of two of them.
Government proposals to ban damaging fishing in Dogger Bank could be a first step to the recovery of a rich array of wildlife, conservationists have said.
Under proposed bye-laws put out for consultation by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) on Monday, bottom trawling would be prohibited in four English offshore marine protected areas, including Dogger Bank.
Campaigners said the move to properly protect the conservation areas would help preserve important habitats such as sandbanks, coral gardens and reefs and the wildlife they support, and boost fish stocks.
But they warned that properly conserving four marine protected areas was just the “tip of the iceberg” in the scale of the challenge to reverse declines in marine wildlife, and called for more urgent action.
Ban on destructive bottom trawling to protect English cold-water coral
Conservationists welcomed the plans but said more needed to be done to protect other areas where trawling would still be allowed
1 February 2021 • 6:16pm
Common starfish and sea anemones on ross worm at Dogger Bank in the North Sea
Credit: JNCC/PA
The first widespread bottom-trawling ban in protected English waters has been proposed by the government in an attempt to protect cold-water coral.
A consultation launched on Monday proposed barring the damaging fishing practice from four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) including the Canyons, a deep sea habitat off the coast of Cornwall which contains a cold water coral reef and coral gardens.
Marine Management Organisation launches consultation on four of England’s Marine Protected Areas
Marine Management Organisation (MMO) launches formal consultation seeking views on proposals to manage activity in four of England’s offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
From:
1 February 2021
The next phase in the Government’s ambitious plans for a ‘Blue Belt’ of marine protected areas around the UK’s seas has begun with the Marine Management Organisation’s (MMO) formal consultation to protect four of England’s 40 offshore Marine Protected Areas.
Now that the UK has left the EU, the UK Government has powers to implement evidenced based marine management that will help ensure our seas are managed sustainably, protecting both the long-term future of the fishing industry and our precious wildlife and habitats.
Managing fishing in MPAs: Formal consultation
The Marine Management Organisation has launched a formal consultation from 1 February to 28 March 2021, seeking views on the draft byelaws proposed for four offshore MPAs:
The Canyons Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ);
Dogger Bank Special Area of Conservation (SAC);
Inner Dowsing, Race Bank and North Ridge SAC; and
South Dorset MCZ.
The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) is the government’s principal regulator for most activities in English waters. This includes the management of activities in marine protected areas (MPAs).
This formal consultation is open from 1 February to 28 March 2021. Further information can be accessed by visiting the dedicated pages